Send volunteer notices to gazette@connectionnewspapers.com or call Rebecca Halik with any questions 703-917-6407.
Alexandria Office on Women- Domestic Violence Program- Shelter Supervisors at the Battered Women's Shelter interact personally with individuals in need--an opportunity that many find extremely fulfilling. Primary responsibilities include answering the crisis hotline and supporting the women and children residing at the safe house. Contac: Jen Clayton, 703-838-4911 or jen.clayton@alexandriava.gov
Catholic Charities Diocese of Arlington- Thrift shop associates to assist shoppers, receive donations, sort items, price, display goods and clothing, create attractive displays, and to create a warm and welcoming environment for those with limited incomes. Contact: Sally O'Dwyer, 703-841-3838 or sodwyer@ccda.net
The Campagna Center- Summer Camp Volunteer Assist Site Directors and Assistant Site Directors with children's games, activities, and field trips, etc. Summer Camp will take place at William Ramsey, Maury, and Charles Barrett Elementary Schools. Contact: Charlene Johnson, 703-549-0111 or cjohnson@campagnacenter.org
Friends of Guest House– Transport clients back and forth to appointments during the day and evenings. Must have flexible schedule and own vehicle. Contact: Kari Galloway, 703-549-8072 or director@friendsofguesthouse.org
Gadsby’s Tavern Museum - is actively seeking teen and adult volunteers to assist with tours, special events, and/or family programs. Volunteers serving as docents commit to 6 hours per month. Special event volunteers needed throughout the year. Training is provided. Contact: Michele Longo 703-349-3322 or gadbys.tavern@alexandriava.gov
Inova Alexandria Hospital –Patient support; escort patients to procedures, assist with discharges, deliver flowers, charts, patient mail and laboratory items. Contact: Christina Spencer at 703-504-3031 or christina.spencer@inova.com
Meals On Wheels- Deliver meals to homebound seniors in the City of Alexandria. Contact: Samantha Pipkin, 703-836-4414x12 or mowssa@comcast.net
Parent Leadership Training Institute of Alexandria- Clerical and Data Input assistant Enter data from existing documents into Access Database or Excel spreadsheet. Some work can be done at home; other at Hopkins House. Contact Fay D. Slotmick, 703-739-0233 or info@plti-alex.org
Port City Playhouse - Volunteers needed (Be a star on stage and off!) on an ongoing basis to help with set construction and painting. Also need box office and ushering help for performances. Groups and youths age 15 and older are welcome. Contact: Robert Kraus 703-838-2880 or portcityinfo@aol.com
Stop Child Abuse Now of Northern Virginia -- The Alexandria/Arlington Special Advocate (CASA) program is looking for volunteers to serve as advocates for children in the Arlington and Alexandria Juvenile Court system. Volunteers advocate for children in abuse and neglect cases, custody cases, and cases where a child is in need of services. Contact: Dana Taylor, 703-820-9001 or dtaylor@scanva.org
Sunrise of Alexandria - Walking Club with seniors - club meets once a week at Sunrise of Alexandria and is looking for volunteers to help with this activity. Other opportunities for one-on-one visits with the residents are also available. Contact: Meghan Lee 703-212-9192 or alexandria.avc@sunriseseniorliving.com
The Child & Family Network Centers- Administrative Assistants perform administrative work; assist Development Manager with an event, front desk, helping Preschool Director in the office. If you can use a computer, organize things, make copies, and file, you can be a big help here. Contact: Kate Lyng, 703-836-0214 or Klyng@cfnc-online.org 

Community Lodgings needs tutor/mentor a child in the Alexandria community. The after school program provides homework assistance as well as character development. Contact: Emily Barnes, 703-739-5856 emilybarnes@communitylodgings.org
The Alexandria Commission for Women needs volunteers to work with its Court Observation Program. This program is a volunteer-based court monitoring and research project which follows cases of sexual and domestic violence. Volunteers are asked to commit to working at least one morning each month in the Alexandria City Courthouse. Training will be provided two evenings: Tuesday, May 6 and Wednesday, May 14 from 7-9 p.m. Volunteers need to attend only one of these sessions. Contact Laura Mandala at 703-798-5452 or Laura@MandalaResearch.com.
Port City Playhouse- construct and paint sets for the theatre. Box office and ushering help also needed for performances. Groups and youths age 15 and older are welcome. Contact: Robert Kraus, 703-838-2880 portcityinfo@aol.com
Alexandria Legacies, the City of Alexandria’s Oral History Program, is seeking volunteers to help collect the oral histories of long-time Alexandria residents by documenting their memories of living and working in Alexandria. Oral history volunteer training sessions will be held on Saturday, May 10, and Saturday, June 7, from 10 a.m. to noon, at the Alexandria Archaeology Museum (in the Torpedo Factory Art Center) at 105 N. Union St., Suite 327. Space is limited and an RSVP is required by Thursday, May 1. If interested, contact Jen Hembree by calling 703-838-4399 or by e-mail at jen_hembree@hotmail.com.
There will be a volunteer management boot camp from 9 a.m.-noon in Alexandria. Part of Volunteer Fairfax. Visit www.volunteerfairfax.org, and click on “Training Registration” on the left-hand side. The fee for this session is $35. For more information, e-mail Emily Gibbs at egibbs@volunteerfairfax.org.
UCM's Transitional Housing Program is looking for volunteer groups to help provide a prepared well balanced meal for about 60 people, this includes children. Groups would be asked to sign up for 1 meeting per year on the third Tuesday evening of each month. The grocery bill would be at the group's expense and a tax donation slip would be provided. Assistance with child care is needed. Call Betsy Damitz, volunteer coordinator 703-768-7106 ext. 328.
The Child & Family Network Centers has many volunteer opportunities, including volunteering in classrooms, field-trip assistants, ESL and Spanish language tutors, clothing drive assistant and office assistant. They also need volunteers to help prepare for their annual wine tasting fundraising event in the spring. Contact Patricia Chapman at 703-836-0214 or pchapman@cfnc-online.org.
Higher Achievement seeks teacher mentors to work with motivated scholars at Hammond Middle School from 6-8 p.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. Karen Berry, Volunteer Coordinator, 202-544-3633 or kberry@higherachievement.org
The Hispanic Committee of Virginia needs volunteers for their youth programs, including volunteers to mentor Hispanic teenagers and for "Arroz Con Leche," a weekly reading and writing enrichment program for immigrant 2nd and 3rd graders. Spanish language proficiency is not required, training and support is available, and average commitment is just 1-2 hours/week. Contact Jodi Hammer at 703-671-5666, ex. 20, or educationcoord@hcva.org.
Project Northstar needs volunteers to tutor children who live in homeless shelters, transitional housing programs and foster care. Project Northstar matches adult volunteers with the same student for one evening per week to work on basic math and reading skills. 202-223-0144, ext. 10
RAINN (Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network) seeks volunteers for the National Sexual Assault Online Hotline, which provides live, secure, anonymous, instant message-style crisis support to the growing number of people who prefer communicating via the Internet --- giving those affected by sexual assault a safe place to turn when they can't find their voice. Contact Darcey West at 202-544-0227 or darceyw@rainn.org.
Stop Child Abuse Now of Northern Virginia is holding trainings for Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA) volunteers. Trainings will be held in the winter and the spring. For more information, contact the SCAN office, 703-820-9001, info@scanva.org.
WETA seeks a volunteer immediately to assist with WETA's online auction that takes place the first week of June. Good Computer and communication skills for a job that includes soliciting items for the Auction, follow up, data entry and fulfillment. Contact Janet Riksen, Senior Projects Officer,WETA, jriksen@weta.com or 703-998-2442.
If you are looking for a dynamic volunteer experience with the chance to make a difference, the Sexual Assault Response and Awareness (SARA) program is the volunteer opportunity for you. The SARA program is looking for compassionate listeners, both English speaking and bilingual, who would be comfortable talking to sexual assault survivors and their families. Volunteers take evening or weekend shifts from home or anywhere accessible by phone. The next SARA training is scheduled to begin in October and meets two evenings a week from 6:30-9:30 p.m. and on two Saturday mornings. For more information or to register for the SARA training, contact Stacey Calhoun McCullough at 703-838-5030 or stacey.mccullough@alexandriava.gov.
Wright to Read seeks volunteers to tutor elementary school students in Alexandria Schools, and for Book Buddies, an after-school reading program held at William Ramsay Elementary on Tuesdays and at Jefferson-Houston Elementary on Wednesdays. They also need pediatric waiting room readers to read to children at the Saint Asaph Street Clinic. To register for orientation, contact Ginny Biggs at 703-549-0111, ext. 339
The Alexandria Tutoring Consortium (ATC) needs tutors! Call 703-549-6670 or e-mail atc@opmh.org to learn how you can give a child the gift of reading. Visit www.alexandriatutors.org to learn more.
United Community Ministries Backporch Thrift Store is looking for volunteers to help accept donations, sort and price items and place on store floor. Contact Betsy Damitz, volunteer coordinator at 703-768-7106, ext. 328.
Habitat for Humanity ReStore is a store located at 7770 Richmond Highway that combines business with philanthropy. The 16,000 square foot store in filled with donated home-improvement goods ranging from doors, appliances, furniture, floor, tile and hardware. All items are donated by local contractors, suppliers and individuals; they are then sold to the general public for 50-90 percent of retail price. Contact Virginia Patton from Habitat for Humanity of Northern Virginia at 703-521-9890 ex. 105 for moreinformation or e-mail her at vpatton@habitatnova.org.
If you enjoy meeting people, particularly the elderly, and can serve during the weekday, the volunteer ombudsman position may be for you. Volunteer advocates are assigned to a specific local nursing home or assisted-living facility in Northern Virginia convenient to where they live or work. Applicants must be available to volunteer four hours per week, primarily during regular business hours. Interviews of applicants will be held this summer in preparation for the next annual training, scheduled for Sept. 17, 18 and 28 from 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. each day. For further information and an application, call 703-324-5435, TTY: 703-449-1186 or visit our Web site www.fairfaxcounty.gov/LTCOmbudsman.
The Alexandria Commission for Women is seeking volunteers to work with its Court Observation Program. The Court Observation Program is a volunteer-based court monitoring and research project which tracks sexual and domestic violence cases. The program is designed to provide feedback on sexual and domestic violence cases that helps the criminal justice system improve its response to them. Volunteers must commit to working at least one morning each month in the Alexandria City Courthouse, located at 520 King St. Training will be provided on one of two Monday evenings, Aug. 20 or Sept. 10. For more information or to sign up for the training, contact Laura Mandala at 703-798-5452 or Laura@MandalaResearch.com.
ESL and Immigrant Ministries needs volunteers to teach English as a second language to adult immigrants in 16 locations in Northern Virginia. Training is provided. Day and evening classes begin in September. For more information or for an application, visit http://www.eslim.org. You may also send e-mail to eslim02@gmail.com or call 703-271-8341, Ext. 3, and leave a message.
SARA has a variety of different programs:
Adult Survivors of Childhood Sexual Assault: A twelve-week group addressing issues facing adult survivors of childhood sexual abuse. All group members must be receiving individual therapy or case management services while in the group, and an assessment is required. Offered winter/spring 2008. Contact the SARA Program: 703-838-5030.
Sexual Assault Survivors Support Group: An eight-week group for women who were assaulted as an adult or adolescent. This group will address the impact that sexual assault has had on survivors’ lives. Offered winter/spring 2008. Contact the SARA Program: 703-838-5030.
Creative Expression Support Group: A support group for adult survivors of sexual assault or sexual abuse that will incorporate nonverbal forms of expression, such as; poetry, art, journaling. This six-week group is for those who have previously participated in a support group. Offered winter 2008. Contact the SARA Program: 703-838-5030.
King Street Cats needs volunteers to care for abandoned and rescued cats and kittens in its orphanage in Old Town. Help needed with morning and evening feeding/cleaning. If you love cats and want to care for them while a permanent home is being found, contact us at 703-231-7199 or visit http://kingstreetcats.org for more.
Doorways for Women and Families is seeking volunteers for its Safehouse domestic violence shelter program. Volunteers are needed for weekend and evening shifts and to answer our 24/7 hotline. Some weekday opportunities are also available. Training begins August-September. Call 703-522-8858 x13 or e-mail volunteer@doorwaysVA.org. For more information visit www.doorwaysva.org/volunteer.